If you hand people a basic income, they'll just breed and create more and more children that also need a basic income. At some point this plan is going to fail.
In other words, he is running a failed business model which should be taxed out of existence because it adds no value to society.
Whether his business ads value to society depends on what product/service they provide for a certain price, not how much taxes they pay.
In fact, if we get rid of company taxes, society would save a lot of money on useless company tax advisors, and experts trying to close loopholes in tax laws.
I can saturate my consumer grade 100/33 for 24/7 without problems too, and I pay less than $50 for that. Sure, I suffer from occasional outages (about 1 per month for a few minutes), but that could be fixed by adding some redundancy, such as extra VDSL wire pair, and a cable connection for a total of $150, giving me 300/100 for 99% of the time, and at least 100/33 for 99.99% of the time.
I've been to several supermarket with self checkouts, and I've never used them. On the other hand, I've been to the local McDonald's twice since they installed their touch screen ordering system, and I've used it both times.
Greed, sure, but greed appears on all levels. Some kid who doesn't do his homework, but plays on his phone all day, not learning any useful skill is also greedy.
Onions and pickles aren't really soft, and it's not a big deal if they get a little bruised if you're going to eat them a minute later. We have machines that can peel shrimp. I'm sure somebody can find a way to slice a pickle without turning it into mush.
Can't wait to see grandma and grandpa walk up to RoboCarlz and then turn around when they see a machine that they have no idea how to use to get what they want.
If there's a lot of lost business because of this, you can hire somebody to keep an eye on the ordering terminals and assist people that seem confused. I see them do this at airport automated check-in desks. For 99% of the customers, pressing on a picture of the food you want is easy enough.
What is "shocking" about it? It's Silicon Valley: everything is overpriced, highly taxed, and highly regulated. How could it be different?
High prices can make sense if there's high demand and limited supply, such as floor space in a densely populated city. High prices don't make sensor for a simple commodity item with basically unlimited supply. Silicon Valley is an area with high economic output, so the city should maximize the efficiency of doing business.
Business connections are more expensive everywhere. Home service is $60/month for 150 Mbps
In a high business area, there's no good reason for a business connection to cost that much more, especially not if you get lousy service for it.
Okay, so what's the plan in 5 years when the machines cost half as much?
What's your plan with a guaranteed minimum wage in that case ?
who does he think will have the money to buy his robot-made burgers?
Given that other businesses will move to robots, and people will lose their jobs, it's in everybody's best interest to offer the lowest priced burgers.
If you have a machine that can dispense onions and pickles on a burger, it's trivial to vary the amount based on the customer's input. And the machine can do this without forgetting or messing it up.
A typical fast food restaurant is already full of machines that need to be cleaned, stocked and maintained. This one isn't going to be much worse. The ordering system is just a simple touchscreen, for instance. It only needs to be wiped off once in a while.
If they don't have the fiber or cables in place to support it, it takes time to dig up the street
It's a sign of stupid planning if you need to dig up the street every time a business wants internet. You dig up the street once, and prepare access for everybody, or make sure it's all prepared at the same time you build the street. I'm sure they don't have to dig up the street to get a hookup to the sewer network, electricity, or water. It shouldn't be any different for internet.
Time and time again you elect officials who go out of their way to protect the incumbent ISPs and other special interests even though it is expressly against your own interests
Don't sign anything unless you have had a lawyer checking it for you.
So, not only do you have to pay top prices for internet, you also need to hire an expensive lawyer to check it. That's just insane. And what are you going to do when the lawyer finds something you don't like ? Ask Comcast nicely to change it ?
The most shocking part is that not every place in Silicon Valley already comes with a fast internet access, for a reasonable price. Even if Comcast had been able to provide internet, it would have cost $189.90 a month for 100/20 Mbps! In other parts of the world, that's becoming a standard domestic speed, sold for a fraction of that price, available in a few days after you order it.
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If you hand people a basic income, they'll just breed and create more and more children that also need a basic income. At some point this plan is going to fail.
In other words, he is running a failed business model which should be taxed out of existence because it adds no value to society.
Whether his business ads value to society depends on what product/service they provide for a certain price, not how much taxes they pay. In fact, if we get rid of company taxes, society would save a lot of money on useless company tax advisors, and experts trying to close loopholes in tax laws.
No, they don't. Or, at least, they don't do it *automatically*. That's what competition is about.
Competition doesn't help, if all companies are taxed equally.
I can saturate my consumer grade 100/33 for 24/7 without problems too, and I pay less than $50 for that. Sure, I suffer from occasional outages (about 1 per month for a few minutes), but that could be fixed by adding some redundancy, such as extra VDSL wire pair, and a cable connection for a total of $150, giving me 300/100 for 99% of the time, and at least 100/33 for 99.99% of the time.
I've been to several supermarket with self checkouts, and I've never used them. On the other hand, I've been to the local McDonald's twice since they installed their touch screen ordering system, and I've used it both times.
The most xenophobic people in Europe are the immigrants.
Greed, sure, but greed appears on all levels. Some kid who doesn't do his homework, but plays on his phone all day, not learning any useful skill is also greedy.
Onions and pickles aren't really soft, and it's not a big deal if they get a little bruised if you're going to eat them a minute later. We have machines that can peel shrimp. I'm sure somebody can find a way to slice a pickle without turning it into mush.
Can't wait to see grandma and grandpa walk up to RoboCarlz and then turn around when they see a machine that they have no idea how to use to get what they want.
If there's a lot of lost business because of this, you can hire somebody to keep an eye on the ordering terminals and assist people that seem confused. I see them do this at airport automated check-in desks. For 99% of the customers, pressing on a picture of the food you want is easy enough.
Instead of 5 minimum wage people, you hire just one. Or the restaurant owner/manager does everything by himself.
What is "shocking" about it? It's Silicon Valley: everything is overpriced, highly taxed, and highly regulated. How could it be different?
High prices can make sense if there's high demand and limited supply, such as floor space in a densely populated city. High prices don't make sensor for a simple commodity item with basically unlimited supply. Silicon Valley is an area with high economic output, so the city should maximize the efficiency of doing business.
Business connections are more expensive everywhere. Home service is $60/month for 150 Mbps
In a high business area, there's no good reason for a business connection to cost that much more, especially not if you get lousy service for it.
Okay, so what's the plan in 5 years when the machines cost half as much?
What's your plan with a guaranteed minimum wage in that case ?
who does he think will have the money to buy his robot-made burgers?
Given that other businesses will move to robots, and people will lose their jobs, it's in everybody's best interest to offer the lowest priced burgers.
If you have a machine that can dispense onions and pickles on a burger, it's trivial to vary the amount based on the customer's input. And the machine can do this without forgetting or messing it up.
I'm always amazed that the rich think they can hide in their gated communities and enjoy the fruits of other people's labor.
That shouldn't be amazing. No matter what happens in other businesses, or society as a whole, Puzder is still making the optimal choice for himself.
miserable fast food workers end up in slightly less miserable job just like the factory workers before them.
Assuming that the slightly less miserable jobs are available in sufficient numbers, and that the workers are qualified and motivated.
A typical fast food restaurant is already full of machines that need to be cleaned, stocked and maintained. This one isn't going to be much worse. The ordering system is just a simple touchscreen, for instance. It only needs to be wiped off once in a while.
They probably taste just as well, if not better. Machines are much easier tuned to perfection and consistency.
If they don't have the fiber or cables in place to support it, it takes time to dig up the street
It's a sign of stupid planning if you need to dig up the street every time a business wants internet. You dig up the street once, and prepare access for everybody, or make sure it's all prepared at the same time you build the street. I'm sure they don't have to dig up the street to get a hookup to the sewer network, electricity, or water. It shouldn't be any different for internet.
Unless you really didn't need the internet or something and the service was super cheap.
It was $190/month for 100/20 Mbps. That's not super cheap. That's very expensive.
but maybe cheating customers is so ingrained to Comcast that they didn't care.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Time and time again you elect officials who go out of their way to protect the incumbent ISPs and other special interests even though it is expressly against your own interests
You cannot vote your way out of a corrupt system.
Time Warner was the incumbent provider in my area, but didnt offer service to our place as it was a new building.
Bizarre. Internet access should be standard for every new building, just like the other utilities.
Don't sign anything unless you have had a lawyer checking it for you.
So, not only do you have to pay top prices for internet, you also need to hire an expensive lawyer to check it. That's just insane. And what are you going to do when the lawyer finds something you don't like ? Ask Comcast nicely to change it ?
I suspect that, had he been prepared to pay close to $1000/month from the outset, he would have been up and running within 2 months.
Basic internet for $1000/month ? And 2 months waiting period ? Wow, that's messed up.
The most shocking part is that not every place in Silicon Valley already comes with a fast internet access, for a reasonable price. Even if Comcast had been able to provide internet, it would have cost $189.90 a month for 100/20 Mbps! In other parts of the world, that's becoming a standard domestic speed, sold for a fraction of that price, available in a few days after you order it.